the Rabbit Run

(0) Index

(1) Introduction
(1.1) the Rabbit Run
(1.2) History of the project

(2) The Movie
(2.1) Installation
(2.2) Running the movie
(2.3) Solving playback problems

(3) More details about the demo
(3.1) Timing
(3.2) How the run was recorded

(4) Statistics

(5) Credits and contact info
(5.1) Credits
(5.2) Utilities used
(5.3) Contact info

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1.1) What is the Rabbit Run

It is a run of Quake on Easy skill, going through the required levels as fast
as possible. Secrets and kills do not matter.

(1.2) History of the project

Originally set out to be our most ambitious project to date, but it just
wasn't supposed to be... The project was started way back in early 1999, but
as with nearly all other QdQ projects, people lost interrest, and the entire
project was abandoned... Luckily, all running had more or less been completed,
but until wasn't until October 2003 that we decided to release the run in
.AVI format. People kept bugging us to release the damn thing in .PAK format
though, so here it is, only 6 years late :-)


(2) The demos

(2.1) Installation

First you need to find your main Quake directory. This probably has the name 
"Quake" and will contain such items as your Quake executable programs (such 
as quake.exe, or winquake.exe, or glquake.exe...) and your Id1 subdirectory. 
(Mac users may be more used to the term "folder" than directory.)

You should make a subdirectory of this main directory. Give it whatever name 
you like; for the purposes of these instructions we will assume you have 
called it "trr". In DOS, you can do this by changing to your main Quake
directory and then typing "md trr" at the prompt.

The trr.zip/dz file should contain four files which should be extracted into
the trr directory. These files are:

pak0.pak             - contains all the data for the demo
autoexec.cfg         - contains some settings, you can change these freely
trr.txt              - this text file you are reading


(2.2) Running the demos

Now to run the movie, start Quake with the command-line option "-game trr".
In DOS, you should change to the main Quake directory and then type
"quake -game trr" (or "winquake", or "glquake" if appropriate.) On a Mac,
you should press the option key whilst starting Quake in order to be able to
enter command-line options.

The demos are played from a menu interface, so that you can choose to play
the whole episode, or individual levels.

Using the menu should be mostly self-explanatory! There are just a few 
additional things you should know about using it.

Whilst playing a demo, you can press F10 to stop and return to the menu.
If you are playing the whole episode, then you can press F9 to advance to
the next level. The function keys F1 through F3 let you alter the speed of
the playback. F1 is slow motion, F2 is normal speed, and F3 is fast forward.
With a compatible engine (such as JoeQuake), hold down F5 to play the demo
backwards. F12 always quits the movie.

Also, during playback, PAUSE pauses, TAB shows scores, + and - alters
viewsize, and the regular button below ESC toggles the console.

(2.3) Solving playback problems

Some versions of Quake have some problems playing back very long demos. We
have used every trick and hack we know to try to solve these problems, but
it is possible some will have slipped through for your Quake version. If so,
please tell us so we can fix the bug. But in any case, any errors shouldn't
ruin your enjoyment of the movie. You can use the menu interface to play the
individual levels.


(3) More details about the demo

(3.1) Timing

Just a quick explanation of why we say we completed episode 1 in 10:58. We
recorded every demo separately and then connected them together, adding the
times for the individual demos. We did not count the time on the start level
since, as you probably know, Quake never displays time for it.

(3.2) How the run was recorded

We recorded each demo separately, on skill 0 (Easy), of course without any
cheating. To start with the correct stats we ended the previous level with,
we used a QuakeC patch that allowed us to select the statistics we started
with.

The demos included in this package are basically the original recordings,
but we had to make some changes to make them play within the menu. We did
take care to keep the spirit of the original recordings. Here's a list of
the edits:

- Made the demos play within the menu
- Removed "playing on nightmare skill" from the beginning of every demo
- Removed a few other boring messages such as "No weapon" and
  "Not enough ammo"


(4) Statistics

"Saved" times are compared to the predecessor "Quake done Quick lite" run
in 12:54 <http://www.planetquake.com/qdq/qdqlite.html>


Level                   Map   Player              Time   Saved
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Slipgate Complex    E1M1  Peter Horvath       0:21   0:04
Castle Of The Damned    E1M2  Markus Taipale      0:30   0:02
The Necropolis          E1M3  Markus Taipale      0:32   0:04
The Grisly Grotto       E1M4  Peter Horvath       0:13   0:00
Gloom Keep              E1M5  Sergi Cami          0:13   0:03
The Door To Chthon      E1M6  Martin Selinus      0:08   0:01
The House Of Chthon     E1M7  Jozsef Szalontai    0:11   0:01
--------------------------------------------------------------
 Episode 1 - Dimension Of The Doomed              2:08   0:15
--------------------------------------------------------------

Level                   Map   Player              Time   Saved
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Installation        E2M1  Fabian Kollakowski  0:07   0:01
The Ogre Citadel        E2M2  Peter Horvath       0:31   0:08
The Crypt Of Decay      E2M3  Jozsef Szalontai    0:16   0:04
The Ebon Fortress       E2M4  Peter Horvath       0:39   0:12
The Wizard's Manse      E2M5  Jozsef Szalontai    0:24   0:04
The Dismal Oubliette    E2M6  Jozsef Szalontai    1:16   0:04
--------------------------------------------------------------
 Episode 2 - The Realm Of Black Magic             3:13   0:33
--------------------------------------------------------------

Level                   Map   Player              Time   Saved
--------------------------------------------------------------
Termination Central     E3M1  Markus Taipale      0:23   0:03
The Vaults Of Zin       E3M2  Martin Selinus      0:13   0:01
The Tomb Of Terror      E3M3  Martin Selinus      0:20   0:04
Satan's Dark Delight    E3M4  Peter Horvath       0:26   0:04
The Wind Tunnels        E3M5  Martin Selinus      0:34   0:05
The Chambers Of Torment E3M6  Martin Selinus      0:21   0:08
--------------------------------------------------------------
 Episode 3 - The Netherworld                      2:17   0:25
--------------------------------------------------------------

Level                   Map   Player              Time   Saved
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Sewage System       E4M1  Jozsef Szalontai    0:18   0:06
The Tower Of Despair    E4M2  Martin Selinus      0:29   0:05
The Elder God Shrine    E4M3  Markus Taipale      0:37   0:11
The Palace Of Hate      E4M4  Sergi Cami          0:19   0:04
Hell's Atrium           E4M5  Markus Taipale      0:09   0:03
The Pain Maze           E4M6  Markus Taipale      0:21   0:01
Azure Agony             E4M7  Martin Selinus      0:34   0:12
--------------------------------------------------------------
 Episode 4 - The Elder World                      2:47   0:42
--------------------------------------------------------------

Level                   Map   Player              Time   Saved
--------------------------------------------------------------
Shub-Niggurath's Pit    END   Attila Csernyik     0:33   0:01
--------------------------------------------------------------

                                                 Total   Saved
--------------------------------------------------------------
 The Rabbit Run                                  10:58   1:56
--------------------------------------------------------------


(5) Credits and contact info

(5.1) Credits

Attila Csernyik         <n/a>                              Running
Fabian Kollakowski      <n/a>                              Running
Jozsef Szalontai        <joe_quake@hotmail.com>            Running, Production
Markus Taipale          <n/a>                              Running
Martin Selinus          <martin.selinus@home.se>           Running
Mathias Thore           <mandel@speeddemosarchive.com>     Production
Peter Horvath           <n/a>                              Running
Sergi Cami              <n/a>                              Running
Thomas Stubgaard        <stubgaard@speeddemosarchive.com>  Additional support



(5.2) Utilities used

The utilities we used included:

SoundForge to edit some music
UltraEdit to edit long text files
LMPC by Uwe Girlich <http://www.planetquake.com/demospecs> for decompiling
and recompiling demos so we could use the convenient LS format. Also Uwe's
DEM specs were very useful for us in creating our own tools.

Some in-house utilities:

QdQstats <http://www.planetquake.com/qdq/stats.html>
DemoRelise (unreleased) to make demos that fit into a continuous run. 
Demtool <http://www.planetquake.com/qdq/demtool.html> for various editing.
Ifix, to fix intermission views.

We also made use of a compression tool (DZIP) that works way better then
usual ZIP-programs on demos and PAK-files. It's highly recommended to get
this tool from <http://speeddemosarchive.com/dzip/>

(5.3) Contact info

For QdQ news and future projects, check our page(s) at:
<http://www.planetquake.com/qdq/>
<http://www.speeddemosarchive.com/>

For general comments to the QdQ team, email:
<quake@speeddemosarchive.com>


Thanks,
Thomas Stubgaard & Mathias Thore - April 3rd, 2005.
